The Cake Sale

Yep Roc / Oxfam;
2007

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The worst moment for a record reviewer is the one when
you're assigned to write about a charity album that it turns out you don't like.
Even people who don't want to admit that there's no objective standard for
judging music's quality know deep down that what winds up in a review, at least
in a forum like this site, is someone's opinion of what they just heard and extenuating
circumstances are just a side story. My basic opinion of the Cake Sale is that
it's consistently uninteresting-- it's so stridently middle-of-the-road that
there's little to get excited about. But I'd be a heartless bastard if I didn't
make it clear that all profits from this record benefit Oxfam's Make Trade Fair
program (this still applies to their U.S. deal with Yep Roc).

The band is really more of a loose collective, helmed by
Brian Crosby of Ireland's Bell X1, and it includes
Damien Rice, Nina Persson, Josh Ritter, Rice's former vocalist Lisa Hannigan,
the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon, Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody, Crowded House
bassist Nick Seymour, and members of Frames, the Thrills, and Turn, among
others. Fans of some of those bands may have things to latch onto here-- think a
softer, plusher Snow Patrol with less memorable songwriting. It was also
recorded all over the place, with basic tracks done at one point and vocals
tracked in different countries at different times, which could account for some
of the lack of energy and sense of interplay that weighs it down. It sounds
cohesive because the very refined (one might say sterile) production keeps it
that way, but it can't mask the missing group dynamic.

For my donation, the best track is the last one, the Neil
Hannon-led "Aliens". I can't really get behind the chorus lyric, "I've been
speaking with aliens/ They've agreed to abduct everyone but you," but the way
it's delivered, piped-in choir and all, makes it far and away the record's most
dramatic and lasting moment. It's the unselfconscious way it embraces its
cheesiness that makes it endearing-- this is something Hannon's always been good
at, and he plays it perfectly here. Much of the rest of the record is an adult
contemporary smear, with xylophone and violin accents at the edges that don't
add much more than texture and a raft of too-subdued vocal performances that
allow your mind to wander too easily.

Josh Ritter does a better job than most of grabbing the
melody at his disposal and giving it some rhythm and personality on "Vapour
Trail", bringing a sort of country twang to the song that sets it apart-- it's
also more sparsely arranged than the rest of the record, which gives the song
some room to breathe and just be what it is. Meanwhile, I had to listen to
"Black Winged Bird", sung by Persson, several times just to remember the
refrain, and the Hannigan-led opener "Last Leaf" never gets off the ground,
dragged down by a leaden melody. "Good Intentions Rust" sounds like a rejected
Grandaddy B-side.

As much as I'd like to, I just can't recommend
this-- good intentions aside, it's pleasant but totally non-descript and devoid
of energy. In short, it's boring-- if you want to support Fair Trade
initiatives, you'd probably just be better off donating straight to Oxfam or
buying one of the interesting Think
Global comps that have come out in the last few years-- if you're in the UK, you could
even hit up one of their used book stores.